Outrage in Germany, and questions for police, after murder, rape of Jewish girl

Roses cover the photo of the 14-year-old Susanna Maria Feldman killed in Wiesbaden, Germany, Friday, June 8, 2018. A young Iraqi man suspected in the rape and murder of a 14-year-old schoolgirl in western Germany has been arrested in his homeland. (Boris Roessler/dpa via AP)

Outrage in Germany, and questions for police, after murder, rape of Jewish girl

Efforts underway to have suspect in killing of Susanna Feldman sent back from Iraq to face trial; case raises fresh doubts about Berlin’s policy toward migrants

By HUI MIN NEO 9 June 2018, 2:19 am

BERLIN (AFP) — A failed Iraqi asylum seeker suspected of raping and murdering a teenage girl in Germany was arrested in Iraq overnight, German authorities said Friday, after his escape sparked outrage and raised questions over immigration and police failings.

Ali Bashar, 20, who is believed to have strangled the Jewish 14-year-old Susanna Maria Feldman after sexually assaulting her, was “arrested by Kurdish authorities in northern Iraq at the request of German federal police,” said German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer.

A senior Kurd security official who asked not to be named told AFP that Bashar had been “arrested very early at Arbil international airport” in the Kurdish-controlled region of northern Iraq.

The arrest, as Bashar got off a plane, was due to “coordination between the Kurd and German security forces,” the official said.

“Preparations have been made to have the suspect transferred as quickly as possible to face trial in Germany.”

The arrest came after an outcry in Germany as police hunting the fugitive admitted that Bashar had fled with his family.

They managed to fly out of Duesseldorf airport even though the names on their identity documents did not match those on their airline tickets, police said, adding that their identity was only checked against the photos on the papers.

Bashar also turned out to have chalked up a long police record over his less than three years in Germany and should have been expelled months ago.

“The government should beg for forgiveness from Susanna’s parents,” said the top-selling tabloid Bild.

“The only thing that is worse than the murder of a child is the murder of a child by a criminal who should not have been in our country.

“Crimes like these are explosive for our society because they are the bitter proof that this country does not have sufficient control over who is residing within our borders.”

The newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung said “it is time to wonder how far the credibility of the government is being undermined when it is surrounded by so many absurdities”.

Revealing that Feldman and her mother were members of the Jewish community, the Central Council of Jews in Germany urged a “swift and comprehensive” probe into the case and tough consequences for the perpetrator.

Susanna Feldman, 14, a German Jewish schoolgirl, whose body was found buried on the outskirts of the western German city of Wiesbaden on June 6, 2018 (via Facebook)

Protests planned

The case puts renewed pressure on Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government over the decision to open Germany’s borders at the height of Europe’s refugee crisis in 2015, resulting in the arrival of more than a million asylum seekers over two years.

Far-right party AfD, which had railed against asylum seekers, jumped in to push its point.

“Susanna is a new victim of the egotistical and hypocritical welcoming policy of Chancellor Angela Merkel,” charged AfD chief Alice Weidel, who called for the German leader’s resignation.